Dermal Deposits of Gadolinium in NSF

The gadolinium and NSF story continues to become clearer. A paper in the July issue of the Clinical Journal of the ASN shows deposition of gadolinium in the skin of a patient who developed Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF). Traces of iron were also found. NSF is seen exclusively in patients with renal failure; most of these patients have received gadolinium based MRI contrast agents. The half life of gadolinium is a little more than one hour in patients with normal renal function, but rises to 120 hours in dialysis patients. It appears that accumulation of gadolinium in the skin and other organs is the trigger for the development of this syndrome. The current study in CJASN provides further support for this view. As stated in an earlier post here, nobody with a glomerular filtration rate of less than 30 ml/min should receive gadolinium unless the indication is stronger than the fear of inducing NSF.

The study’s abstract is reproduced below.

ABSTRACT:Background and objectives: The pathogenesis of acquired nephrogenicsystemic fibrosis recently described for patients with renalinsufficiency and a history of exposition to gadolinium-basedmagnetic resonance contrast agents is not completely understood.A role for circulating fibroblasts in the fibrosing tissue ishypothetical, and the mechanism of the assumed trigger functionof gadolinium remains elusive.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 11:27 am and is filed under Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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